Sunday, January 11, 2009

Homophobes

Are they realy haters? Is it just because they dont understand? Why do they feel so threatened by differences from the usual?

I read somewhere, (don’t remember where) that some of us seem to have an inborn fear of change. That ‘conservatism’ may actually be ‘in the blood’, so to say. Could it be true? That as a consequence of our evolution, we have internalized a resistance to change- yet change is a must. We are a very intelligent specie, us human beings. The need for adaptive change comes up against the need to maintain that which has worked for years. Most of us are wired, despite our intelligence, to resist change, however logical it is. Some are less so than others. And of course what drives us is the reality of our genetic makeup against the reality of our ever increasing knowledge and our capacity of intelligence.

Hmmmmmmmmm!

It is an interesting proposition to think of the guys who are so adamantly homophobic. Nsaba-Buturo. Ssempa. I love the lessons that Ted Haggard is giving all of us. He is bi, at least, more than likely homosexual. Has struggled with his sexuality. He cannot hide from his own intelligence, as he cannot hide from his sexuality.But he lives in a world that seeks to deny his knowledge and his experience, as against what he thinks is his world. I don’t think we are through hearing from him. This former champion of conservatism, brought low by his own intelligence, and the sexuality that he has sought to run away from.

I digress. I was reading this article about how some ‘phobes were fighting a battle against trans-sexuals. Why, why do they believe it is a necessity to oppose anything which smacks of equality for the gay minority in our hetero dominated societies?

I am gay. But the constant harassment, to me, seems to be over the top. There are many causes in the world. Why does one choose to pursue one which seeks to deny rights for a minority? Why would it matter to me that a transwoman chooses to go into a public toilet for women?

I have inadvertently read up a bit on the homosexual hating literature. We call ourselves gay. They insist we are homosexuals. And, in such a tiny thing one can see the differences of opinion. Ssempa, bless him, is not very bright. Charismatic, without a doubt, but he shows such a huge knowledge gap that I think him more stupid than clever. He once stated that he did not hate homosexuals, but was totally against the ‘normalisation of homosexuals in society’. Translated, don’t hate the sinner, but hate the sin. And do all that you can to make the sinner feel that he and she is less than a person, while you piously admit to not hating them.

So, if a trans-woman uses a women’s public toilet, what would this do? It would be a tiny step in the normalization of sexualities other than heterosexuality. A very small step.So, it necessitates an all out assault.

So, why do they do it? Here is the story. I really would love to know why I threaten a person like Ssempa so much. Or Nsaba-Buturo.

The dark ad came from opponents of a gender identity provision added last year to the city's anti-discrimination ordinance, which now allows the city's roughly 100 transgender residents to use whichever restroom they're most comfortable using.

Foes want to repeal the new protection with a March 24 ballot measure that has divided Gainesville, a generally gay-friendly university city surrounded by staunchly conservative north Florida.

Those who support the transgender protections say their opponents are really unleashing a broader attack on the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals in general.

The city commission approved the restroom provision by a 4-3 vote a year ago. Before the ink could dry, Bible-quoting opponents angrily began working for its repeal.

"You are trying to operate in a realm you do not have the authority to operate in," one pastor, George Brantley, told the commissioners.

The debate is expected to become noisier as the ballot nears with opponents resorting to more TV ads and campaigns pegged to such slogans as "Keep Men out of Women's Restrooms and vice versa."

3 comments:

About the ¨fear¨ of change...I don´t honestly, from my own experience, think homophobia is anything more than MEN, in particular since I´m a Man and know them best, are very sexual...I think it makes most Men nerveous because most men are capable of anything when the door closes and the light goes off...maybe I´m wrong...but, that´s what I think!

There's that terrible little dark spot down inside all men which absolutely terrifies them, and since they refuse to face it in themselves. They deny it and then attack it in others who HAVE recognized and embraced it.

That's why they have such hard time trying to explain their homophobia in rational terms -- because it is, in fact, not rational at all. (It's like their accusation that somehow same-sex marriage will cause damage to heterosexual marriage: but no one can ever explain how that could happen --because it is a non-rational argument.)

It's the "projection" that one learns about in Psychology 101: when there is absolutely no apparent objective harm being caused by those who are attacked, the attack has to have an internal (and sometimes deeply repressed) origin and motive. There is no other explanation possible.

And what this means, of course, is that homophobes will never be changed by rational discourse -- only by some powerful emotional experience (like discovering one's son or dearest friend is gay).

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